MSP Network Alliance Becomes Microsoft Office365 Dealer

MSP and cloud solution provider Network Alliance has become a Microsoft (News - Alert) Office365 Dealer. The designation means the service provider can offer a personalized approach and support services when deploying Office365 to its SMB clients.

Network Alliance will specifically ensure clients benefit from maximum functionality and uptime as well as quick responses should any issues arise. Office365 offers a variety of apps for virtualizing any workplace, including Exchange, SharePoint and the powerful Lync communications solution. The solutions enable collaboration, mobility, email and document and file sharing and accessibility from anywhere and from any device.

"Through becoming a certified Microsoft Office365 Dealer, we are giving our clients more flexibility in where they work and enable them to access critical data they need anytime, anywhere, while reducing costs,” said Don Britton, founder and CEO of Network Alliance. “The key advantage to enterprises accessing Office 365 through Network Alliance is that our line of support doesn't end with installation. We're on-board 24/7 to provide them continuous support of all their IT assets and continuously advise them on how they can maximize the return on their technology investment, so they can stay focused on their bottom-line."

That range of support includes working with ISPs to troubleshoot connectivity issues as well as doing tech support on specific devices. The MSP also works directly with Microsoft support to troubleshoot and manage Office-related issues.

The announcement comes at an interesting time, as Microsoft announced this week that it will begin offering free email migration services to Office365 customers beginning September 1. The service will be available to customers with 150 seats or more via the company’s Office365 Fast Track program, which is designed to increase usage of the entire Office365 cloud suite.

The company isn’t cutting its partners out of the picture though, and is planning to direct each customer that uses the program to a Microsoft certified partner for additional support as well as onboarding of other Office365 apps. Microsoft is also providing funding to partners that offer discounted Office365 services, a move that could benefit MSPs like Network Alliance. The funding deal will run through March 31, 2015 and will give partners $15 per seat for up to 1,000 seats and $5 per seat for bigger deployments, with a limit of $60,000 per customer. That could add up to quite a bit of savings for the company’s service provider partners and their customers.